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Ázada Venzalor
Professor Ázada'Kariana Elin Taliandra-Cerani Venzalor (b. 23 August 1717), often referred to as Ázada Venzalor or even mononymously as Ázada, was the founder and Headmistress of Myrávia Academy. She was also the creator of the plane of Myrávia, from which the school takes its name. She was originally a full-blooded elf, but was transformed in 1749 into an unknown eldritch form. She lost her parents early on to assorted magical accidents, and these early losses would greatly shape the worldview of the nascent witch. She was most famous for the formation of Myrávia and the Academy, her work in advancing knowledge of both ancient and modern eldritch magic, and the legendary duel she had with the witch Mariska Harlin at the site of the non-magical Battle of Verdun in 1919. Much about her early life has not been discussed at her own request, but what is known is that, by 1735, she already had a reputation as one of the greatest nascent magicians of her time and had chosen to specialize in eldritch spells and sigilmancy. She turned her efforts toward the restoration of ancient magics, and it was during these efforts that a malfunctioning sigil rebounded in 1749, causing her transformation into her current eldritch form. This form amplified her magical abilities by orders of magnitude, allowing her to perform magic at levels that previously would take multiple, or even several dozen, magicians combined. It was also discovered that this new form left her functionally immortal - she did not age at all after her transformation. Using her amplified abilities, she formed the parallel dimension of Myrávia in 1761 as a haven for magicians against anti-magic persecution, and later constructed the Myrávia Academy to educate future generations of magicians with the best education possible. Though initially teaching all classes herself, she narrowed her focus to her original fields of eldritch magic and sigilmancy after being formally named Headmistress of the Academy in 1794. In those positions, she taught Mariska Harlin in the late 19th century. Though Ázada was nowhere near as trusting of Harlin as many of the other staff were, she was nevertheless unwilling to turn away the young and extraordinarily bright student. As Harlin's true nature became revealed in her crusade to establish magical dominion over the world in the early 1900s, rumor soon spread that Ázada would soon be the only one to face the evil witch, despite her reluctance to face the monster she felt she had created. In 1919, nevertheless, Ázada faced down Harlin in a duel lasting nearly a day before Venzalor finally struck down Harlin in what many wizards call the greatest duel ever fought before or since. Despite increasing age, Ázada remains easily the most formidable witch of the day and the greatest magical educator of all time. She has relinquished her teaching posts at the Academy, but in turn decided to take up providing additional, accelerated instruction to the best of the best students, starting with the 2003-04 school year.